Yet another licensed property has called on the support of its fan base to reach the 10,000 votes needed for LEGO Cuusoo to consider production in some shape or form. I'll admit that Mingles has done a nice job with the pictures and given a lot of thought as to how an entire theme could be produced, though a single set not unlike the one he has shown would be more likely and at least give the fans a little taste of Link. The content is no more questionable than The Lord of the Rings, so there should be no problem there. The main hurdles this project may have would be the licensing (Nintendo already has dealings with K'nex) and whether or not the fan base is there to actually make money on another hard to find set. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is still my favourite video game. Ever. So good luck Link! It's dangerous to go alone! Take these...

Well, there's no way Lego's going to make a bunch of new swords/shields/items, so that part of this entry's concept can be put aside. Knex has the MarioKart license, so it seems Nintendo might at least consider this, but I see them wanting a large cut of the rupees, which might cause some friction. However, Zelda is one of their flagship properties and they might flat out refuse in order to maintain "integrity."

I'd say, if a set does come out of this, it's based on "The Legend of Zelda" (as in, the first game). I'm not going to get my hopes up.

I appreciate all the work that Mingles did with modeling the minifigure accessories on his project- they're well done and look great! But... The problem with the project is just that -- it's 95% minifigure related, and all of the accessories that he's come up with are new pieces (which means new mold tooling, which is VERY expensive). He did finally add a set, which is pretty neat, but if people were voting based on "omg look at all the Zelda parts!" they are going to be disappointed...

I have a feeling that CUUSOO is incompatible with any new parts/tooling as they are all smaller production sets. I would be surprised if they even made a new hairpiece mold for Link's hat. It's too bad as there really aren't currently any acceptable parts for it, unless they go with the Gnome hat (tilts the wrong direction, though) or pirate bandana.

Minecraft: Pretty sure everyone agrees this one was stupid and I can't imagine it selling well at all...

Shaun of the Dead: Killed because it's too adult.

EVE Online: How did this one make it again? Do people actually care about it?

Back to the Future: Meh... about the only thing they can do is the Delorean...

This is about the first one I've actually been excited for, and the only one which actually fits in which LEGO's style... The need for a ton of new pieces, however, will likely hamper, if not outright kill, the final product (unless LEGO makes a full licensing deal with Nintendo and we get a full series please oh please). Can't see the program going for much longer with so many (probable) duds.

As an alternative to all these licensed things... What if an old LEGO theme made it to 10,000 on Cuusoo? Black Falcons, Classic Space, heck even Fabuland might be interesting for them to consider again. Updated/modernized/expanded/etc. versions of something like those would get my vote.

Is it a sad commentary on American culture that, when CUUSOO was Japanese only, they build two models based on scientific research, then, when opened up internationally (read: to America), we get models based on three video games and two movies?

The other Zelda project had some more realistic set ideas. Three mid small(ish) sets based on Ocarina of Time, would one of those be asking too much? Needless to say, I'm excited. I say it gets passed, and might lead to other Zelda sets... I dream big.

I think they covered that in their new notice when the Winchester got denied. Both inappropriate themes and "bring back [insert theme]" wouldn't be considered and would be deleted when found.

oddTodd wrote:Is it a sad commentary on American culture that, when CUUSOO was Japanese only, they build two models based on scientific research, then, when opened up internationally (read: to America), we get models based on three video games and two movies?

I'm guessing a lot of people who weren't actively into Lego voted on these projects. Maybe they should raise the bar for licensed themes to, say, 25,000 votes and keep the original themes at 10,000. Or not. This may be a good chance for Lego to reel in customers who may have been ignoring their product until now. As long as this doesn't negatively affect the CUUSOO project as a whole or TLG's original themes, I'm okay with it.

Though, I must say, I too would rather see more original ideas than licensed themes - at least in CUUSOO.

The optimist in me says that a Zelda line is totally feasible, from a practicality standpoint. While the project in question promotes a whole wave (or three) of unique accessories, it seems like a Zelda set - or even an entire line - could be put together with relatively little in the way of new molds. If they could score a licensing deal with Nintendo, this. would. be. AWESOME.

The realist in me says what everyone else has said: there are simply too many hurdles for this to make it. At the outset, there isn't really a concrete or coherent idea for a model or set here (not to say that there aren't any good ideas out there, but this particular project doesn't put forth much thought in this department). Then there's the issue of licensing. Is it worth pursuing a license for a one-off set? Probably not. Would LEGO be convinced that there's enough interest to pursue licensing for an entire line? Doubtful. Also, it's likely that both parties would be most interested in doing a deal alongside a new Zelda release, but Nintendo probably won't be doing another game in the next year.

The "creators" of the endless parade of licensed material on Cuusoo seems to be focused like a laser on minifigs and new, unique parts. Why is it so hard to understand that the great fan-created sets like Market Street and the Space Skulls were not licensed, not centered around minifigs, and used existing pieces? And they were both successful with the former sparking a whole line of top-shelf sets!

Instead of looking to Lego to create Zelda, why not create something similar to the old Forestmen sets? I'm not saying to resurrect them as-is, but to do something similar and update it would have a great shot.

I'll give you Market Street, but I'd never call Space Skulls successful. That fan line was a huge flop; and it's sad but also awesome, because they ended up clearing out for huge discounts. They were fairly overpriced, and relied on stickers to differentiate. Stickered torsos were a huge turn-off for those sets, and that's why they kinda stunk it up.

I agree with that the creators are all zeroed in on minifigs and custom stuff, but that's not a failing of Cuusoo itself, it's a failing of the fans on there. Fact is, most LEGO fans simply do not understand at all what LEGO is all about. I don't know if it's just a dearth of creativity, or people are just lazy, but to a whole bunch of people, they don't get that it's about building things. That's why you see stuff like this pop up more than anything.

That being said, I'll give exactly a 0.0% chance of this one ever happening. Sure, it's interesting that they actually rendered stuff out, and the things themselves don't look terrible-ish, but after the figures, it's not LEGO. And while Zelda is an immensely popular game, Nintendo micromanages on their licenses, it has to carry their stamp, and pretty much any other toys based on Zelda have been a big flop.

dWhisper wrote:Fact is, most LEGO fans simply do not understand at all what LEGO is all about. I don't know if it's just a dearth of creativity, or people are just lazy, but to a whole bunch of people, they don't get that it's about building things.

This exactly. This is precisely how I've felt for a while, and why it continually depresses me to see comments about newer sets focus almost entirely on the figures and ignore the set in the process. It's almost baffling to try and understand how and why we got to this point, but then, it's not like LEGO hasn't been encouraging it for a while.

joecrowaz on Flickr wrote:Flynn you little wussy with a purple robed fairy for an icon,

CaptainFordo mentioned IGN and it does look like you can thank them for the surge of votes. They mention it, tell their readers to vote, and the sheep obey, probably with little to no consideration on what it was they were voting for. Look at it this way, the Modular Western Town will eventually earn its 10,000 votes and they'll be largely legitimate votes by people who genuinely want it to succeed, while these "licensed" brand-focused entries succeed on hype and bandwagon votes, likely by a majority that won't even bother to buy the sets if/when they're made.

Zelda does lend itself to a few good set ideas. A small Medieval Market Village-type set, part of a dungeon, the ship from Windwaker would be cool, but for the most part I see this having a hard time actually hitting retail.

GIR3691 wrote:Zelda does lend itself to a few good set ideas. A small Medieval Market Village-type set, part of a dungeon, the ship from Windwaker would be cool, but for the most part I see this having a hard time actually hitting retail.

Except, without the minifigs, how are those any different from existing Kingdoms sets over the past few years? We had two different village sets (and they were both awesome), we've had things that could qualify as dungeons. So that leaves the boat, and that thing was a glorified little sailboat, and could easily be folded into any existing lines. Hopefully when PotC dies, they'll bring back the decent pirates line and give it to us.

The issue with so many of the licensed ideas is that without the minifigs, they lose all identity. Thinking about it, that alone is probably the greatest indicator between a "good" and a "bad" license theme. If, when you subtract the figs, the set becomes junk, it's a bad set. Star Wars can stand alone in a lot of cases because without the figs, the set is still good (and if you look at the reviews, I think you'll see that really born out. Superheroes is a great line because so much is still good if you drop them. And PotC (and Indiana Jones before it) was bad because they usually couldn't.

The really good Cuusoo projects (wander through some of the Modular Building ideas, or what's been approved), remember that. This Zelda one most certainly does not.

I think the issue is not so much quality as it is iconography. Licensed sets that are recognizable as a representation of an existing property even without the minifigures are generally much better than sets that are generic without the figures (And it's on these grounds I'd argue Indiana Jones was actually a successful theme, since even without the figures the sets kept to much of the iconic imagery of the films (The Temple Escape set being I think the best example of this)). Star Wars, Toy Story, Super Heroes, etc. are all themes that have a particular iconography outside of their characters, and the sets succeed as a result because they're grounded in that iconography. Themes like Pirates, Avatar, and I'd argue Lord of the Rings are grounded in their characters, with the iconic moments being limited in those characters. Think about iconic scenes from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and you'll notice most of them focus on objects and places. The almost all the iconic moments in, for example, Pirates come from its characters, and the ones that don't aren't particularly recognizable outside of the film. You could argue Lord of the Rings bridges that gap, but I think the sets have (for the worse) chosen to replicate more iconic characters than scenes.

joecrowaz on Flickr wrote:Flynn you little wussy with a purple robed fairy for an icon,